Luxinna got her wishes.

The elf was warming up against the three opponents eyeing her with a mixture of suspicion and fear. The boy’s victories already came with a surprise, and they wouldn’t want a repeat. They already agreed on a plan: overwhelm her quickly before she pulled out explosives.

However, Luxinna saw right through them.

“Don’t mind me,” Luxinna said during her leg-stretching routine, “I am not as tricky as Rem in a fight. Mindtrick and eighty-seven plans to conquer the world aren’t my cups of cider. My way of doing this is simple. I am going to beat all of you at once.”

The lion-man in the heavy plated armor put on a helmet; beside him, the assassin vanished in smoke. As for the duelist, who Luxinna guessed was half-raccoon, he flicked out the finely balanced rapier of in practice motion. All three didn’t let their eyes slid from the girl who drew her steel sword and settled it in an overhead two-handed stance.

Luxinna breathed.

“Three, two, one,” Shyme said. “Start.”

And the battled began.

…

In the stadium above, Cytortia was scolding Rem.

“How many times do you have to wreck your hand?”

“Blame you BFF; Her men detonated that explosive.”

“Oh no, you don’t,” Shyme said hurriedly. She knew how ballistic Cytortia could become when medical subjects got involve. “Don’t you dare drag me into this.”

Waiter smiled with amusement. It wasn’t every day he got to see the hidden side of his mistress. It warmed his heart to see a bit of a girl he raised resurfaced from the harsh taskmaster her life shaped her to be.

“May I about your battle-style, please?”

Rem raised his eyebrows. Please? That was new.

“You know what; I think I like you. So, in this once in a lifetime opportunity, I will not use sarcasm. What do you want to know, old man?”

“I know for a fact that Scathach is your master, but the stance you and the elf used is different from hers. Scathach prefers fast offense and impenetrable defense. Your swordplay, on the other hand, is an unformat sequence of block and strike, leaning heavily on your positioning. And I got the feeling the girl uses something completely different. I have one question in my mind: why don’t you two use Scathach’s stance.”

“Because we want to build something that belongs to us?”

The question amused Waiter.

“You rather foregoes receiving a perfected battle-style to create your own?”

Shyme snorted. As an heir of Enma Enterprise, and a core member of the Enma clan, she received excellent training and education from childhood and trained in many unique and classical styles from several masters. Hence, she couldn’t grasp the boy’s word. Why tried to create a new path when something superior already existed? What the point of risking change for something that was already perfect?

Shyme smirked. Her desire to get even with this enigmatic figure who never seemed to be wrong surged.

“What an idiot,” Shyme declared. “You have a teacher anyone would die to call master. Instead of study what she can teach you, you would rather invent some half-baked style.”

Rem smirked; gg.

“What is learning? It is true people learn from accomplishment, but through painful mistakes, people gain wisdom. I don’t want to inherit Scathach’s success. I want to learn from her failure. I want her experience, earn from struggling up the hill of disappointment. The duty of a teacher isn’t hammering knowledge into a student. I can go to YouTube for those shit. A teacher must guide the student past their failure and allow them to grow as a person while imparting wisdom they inherit from our predecessors.”

“That is bull-“

“Incredible,” Waiter said as the fight progress. “She is winning. I have never such a form before.”

Shyme looked out into a window and witnessed the style she never heard off.

…

The knight questioned how did things end up like this as his blow veered in the wrong direction.

They attack together, but the elf never stood still.

She stayed out of reach, deflecting their attacks, and feeding those momenta into her counterattack. It was like fighting a perpetually moving windmill of death. She even managed to intercept an invisible knife from the assassin. Although flawed and clumsy in some place, the artistry which the young girl cycled her swordplay was undeniably dazzling.

His opponent was dancing with her sword, and he crawled on the dance floor.

A high-power overhead slash came; he blocked it, but the girl swirled her sword into a cut aiming right at his arm. Her posture didn’t miss a beat, twisting away from his teammate’s thrust, while powering the attack with the moment. The knight decided to cut his losses and fall back, but the motion machine did not stop. That metal sword sang the song of rapid, carving the throwing knives out of the air as it started battering his defense.

The lion-man gasped. The girl shifted from defense to offense in a second like she was changing the note on the clarinet. Luxinna spun and twirled, carving her way through rapier and sword. The only thing giving the three men a window to press thier opportunity was the unrefined footwork of the girl. It was clear to all that without such flaws she would be unbeatable.

Clash!

The lion-man cursed; he was so distracted his block slipped. The thrust from the girl sent him sprawling, but luckily, his teammate intervened before the elf could finish him. The lion-man cursed; that overhead knife throw barely slowed her down. Even blade-lock with the half-raccoon only halted her for a second before the elf weaved out. She even unbalanced the opposition with a knee-kick as a bonus.

Then Luxinna gasped for breath.

The lion-man felt a spark of hope. Good, they were wearing her down.

…

“What an unbelievable performance in a 3-v-1!” Lancaster Waiter exclaimed. “What style is this?”

“The 3rd Ray of Dawn: The Way of Raging Rapid,” Cytortia said.

Waiter and Shyme looked at her.

“What?”

“It is a weird project this dolt started,” Cytortia pointed at the nonchalant Rem. “He invented several concepts for a battle-style and dragged Scathach to help make it practical. Luxinna also pitched in after having her ass handed to her by one of said invention.”

“You invented an advance battle-form?” Waiter said.

"But how?" Shyme yelled. "Most schools need inheritance worth centuries to reach that level."

“Oh please,” Rem said. “I saw those inheritances. You guys went the wrong way. Which battle-style teach you to spill Mana in a flashy weapon-waving and give it a cool name? Your so-called pinnacle relies on superpower over philosophy. While it takes hundreds of centuries to invent a way to use a spell with by twirling Mana-infused sword, designing a battle-style is much faster and more effective.”

Rem continued to explain as Luxinna dueled the three men to a standstill. The elf was breathing hard. It was clear that stamina preservation was the only thing stopping her from finishing the fight.

“Instead of working out how to wave Mana with a spear, I asked Scathach to help mesh my philosophy with practicality. The flashiness can be implemented later with the pre-existing wheel. Your schools didn't teach a fighting method, but a glorified magical super-move.”

“What does that even mean?” Shyme said.

Cytortia couldn’t help but answer the question.

“Shyme, Way of Raging Rapid stresses outer-ring engagement. The style focus on adding powerful momentum. It uses recoil and the body-momentum to power attacks while maintaining the force through circular motion. The form aims to blitz the opponent into submission--not even allowing them to breathe. It also has a heavy emphasis on disruptive use of Arcane to…”

“Cy,” Rem warned. “You are giving away too much.”

Cytortia closed her mouth, but Shyme already get the gist of it.

“So, the elf uses a momentum-heavy style, huh,” Shyme said. “But are you sure she can hold the fight to the end.”

…

Luxinna knew the weakness of her style very well.

While the 3rd Ray could overwhelm any opponent, the constant emphasis on momentum meant it also the most exhausting method to fight. The high stamina cost ensures that the form would perform poorly in a long fight, especially against multiple opponents with good teamwork.

Luxinna was also employing a lightning-type Arcane call [Spark Vision] to keep taps on the invisible assassin. Arcane's maintenance, combined with the massive stamina expenditure, was starting to dull her advantage.

Luxinna batted away a sword and counterattacked. She missed, and with much cursing, somersaulted away from a low-cut from a bastard sword.

The elf grimaced; she nearly screwed that landing. Aside from weighing heavily on her endurance, the 3rd Ray also required an incredible feat of coordination and agility to master.

Luxinna groaned mentally. Dammit, if only she could unleash the fullest extent of her abilities--if only came swinging with [Static Glass]--the battle would already be over in five seconds. Instead, she needed to pace her attacks and slowed the battle to a crawl.

“[Royal Dash]”

“[Earth Crush]”

Luxinna saw the two coming and decided to copy an archeologist.

[Astral Trace: Combat Meditation]

Astral Tracing allowed the practitioner to glimpse the historical record of the Multiverse. While it let its user replicated the miracles witnessed by the world as Arcane, it also had another application. Throughout history, multiple warriors fought and died to perfect their craft. A proficient Astral Tracer could witness those lessons the masters of old carved into antiquity. Some could even let the Astral Consciousness guide their action and funneled celestial wisdom into their craft. It was the art of Combat Meditation.

Out of Horizon Dawn, Hikma was the best at the Meditation, but Luxinna wasn’t much behind him.

Luxinna felt her mind sharpened as she surrendered to the will of the Astral Consciousness, and let that current of power guided her victory.

Luxinna bent backward like she was playing a game of Limbo to dodge the rapier-blade. The longsword slammed down, but the elf already side-flipped away from the crater opens up by [Earth Crush] in the middle of the Arena. Sensing a tug in the Astral Consciousness, Luxinna chucked her blade at the potential danger. The steel sword collided with an invisible throwing knife before the spell could activate. Purple corroding smoke erupted, forcing the assassin to flee from the blast zone.

Luxinna landed, armed with nothing but the knowledge of the Multiverse and the might of the Center Force. She reached deep within her spark of True Magic and used it to catalyze the web of the divine net. Through outages, this miracle operated in both light and dark. Villains used it as a torture device. Heroes used it slew hoard of monster. But both sides of the fence agreed on its traditional majesty.

[Lightning Stream]

The current of gold surged from Luxinna’s fingertip, striking both the knight and assassin. They screamed as the golden crackle ran around their body, lighting up the skeleton inside them. Luckily for him, the half-raccoon raised a sword coated in silver light in time to absorb the lightning. Luxinna raised her hand, lifting the screaming duo into the air with the mystical current and slammed them to the ground.

A huge bastard sword fell, following it twitching owner downward with a clang.

The duelist looked at his unconscious comrade and grimaced. The elf managed to evade all their attack and countered back in a window of the second. It appeared he was in more trouble than he realized.

The duelist slammed his rapier to the ground, sending a wave of icicle running toward Luxinna. The elf met the attack with and another lighting stream. Noticing a slight movement in the Astral Consciousness, she reflexively threw out three throwing knives, taking out the flying birds construct that rained down in shards of ice.

The duelist sized the split second of an opportunity to dash for the elf. Luxinna poised for the stab she knew was coming, spinning away from the attack, and using the momentum to power her round-house kick. The raccoon-man, through raw reflex, ducked beneath the attack, and attempt to take the elf’s leg out from beneath her.

He hit nothing.

The duelist stared as the elves flipped mid-kick, pirouetted mid-air, and rotated her foot down on his head like a battle-ax. His brian shook from the blow, but he was still conscious.

Then he suddenly felt something wrapping around his hand. He shook his head in a daze and recovered enough to see a piano wire.

[Heaven Python]

It was the same Arcane Rem used in his battle, but [Static Glass] was much more potent than a run-the-mill stun gun. The discrepancy in the catalyst qualities translated right into the effect. Rem conjured a lightning snake that electrocuted people with a bite.

Luxinna’s [Heaven Python] was a five-meter long monstrosity that swallowed the Raccoon man whole and spat him out a few seconds later in as barely alive charred, twitching body.

“Oops,” Luxinna said. It was the first time she used the Arcane, and she might misjudge its power a little bit.

…

Shyme gritted her teeth and looked at the wincing Rem.

“You can’t blame those three,” Rem said. “Everyone acts like a gangsta until Luxinna bust out force lightning. You should better call in medical staff. They will be emptying their stomach tomorrow morning.”

Cytortia shivered. Yesterday was hell. Luxinna’s test session left both Rem and Melody puking the entire morning. Knowing her strength wasn’t Luxinna's positive qualities, and the last attack showed that pretty well.

“Impressive,” Waiter looked at the apologetic elf. “Her combat ability is at the peak of B-rank. A little bit more, and she will be comparable to the 33 Stars.”

“You are kidding yourself, Waiter,” Shyme huffed. “To be a 33 Stars, you must have the prestige to your name and a powerful sponsor. I will admit that the elf will likely be able to fight Magnolia Drakokia, but nothing she accomplishes will make up for the overwhelming support from Lightwell.”

“You never know,” Rem grinned sinisterly. “Do you perhaps forget that I exist?”

“No, but I can see that you are much weaker than the elf.”

“True.”

“So, you must know it is hopeless,” Shyme said. “Within this generation, only a fellow 33 Stars possess the ability and resource to rival one another. A random outsider like you never has a chance. No matter how strong you become, you won’t upset the generations of resources and techniques compiled into a person.”

Rem smiled.

“Want to bet?”

The following statement proved the difference between the low and middle-tier of the 33 Stars. Shyme did not fall for her arrogance like a certain young elf.

“No, thank you,” Shyme called out. “While I am certain to win, I am sure you will cheat the payment. Now, tell me which facilities you want to set up your base. I recommend somewhere in the Earth-quarter. It would be much easier for me to contact you there.”

“Nah,” Rem said. “I have another plan.”

Shyme knew right away that she would hate his plan.